This invention relates to the production of electric power, or other useful work, from solar energy.
In a solar chimney, energy from the sun heats the air in an elongated, enclosed vertical structure, so as to create an updraft in the structure. The moving air can then be used to drive a turbine to produce electric power, or it can be made to perform other useful work. A solar chimney has the advantage that it does not depend on the presence of wind, but requires only sunlight as the source of energy.
Examples of solar chimneys, as shown in the prior art, are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,979,597, 4,275,309, 4,331,042, 4,433,544, 5,381,048, 6,016,015, 6,089,021, 6,772,593, and 7,026,723, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention provides improvements over the solar chimneys of the prior art. The solar chimney of the present invention concentrates incident solar radiation into a high-intensity beam which can be directed or focused onto a collector. In one embodiment, the system of the present invention can be used to generate power even during nighttime.